Loom harness



. June 18, 1957 J. J. KAUFMANN 2,795,033

LOOM HARNESS Filed June 17, 1954 i 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

JOHN J. KAU FMANN BY. 7Q4Q M ATTORNEY.

June 18, 1957 J. J. KAUFMAN N 5,

LOOM HARNESS Filed June 17, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent LOOM HARNESS John J. Kaufmann, Jenkintown, Pa, assignor to Steel Heddle Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 17, 1954, Serial No. 437,469

6 Claims. (Ci. 139-92) This invention relates to loom harness, and it relates more particularly to the provision, in loom harness of the general type as shown and described in my previous Letters Patent No. 2,386,690, dated October 9, 1945, of means whereby wear at the place of connection between certain of the parts will be eliminated, or at least reduced to a minimum.

Loom harness of the aforesaid type is particularly useful in those installations in which the warp is inserted by means of the automatic warp drawing-in machines which are now in common use.

When warp drawing-in machines are used for automatically entering the warp, it is essential that the heddles be permitted entire freedom of movement from end to end upon the supporting rods, without being obstructed in any way by the devices which are commonly used in loom harness frames of the ordinary type for the purpose of supporting the heddle rods intermediate their ends.

Loom harness frames of the type shown and described in my previous Letters Patent aforesaid have proved reasonably satisfactory in use, but it has been found that an undue amount of wear occurs at certain places which often renders it necessary for the replacement of certain of the parts while the loom harness is otherwise in satisfactory working condition.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide, in loom harness frames of the character aforesaid, improved means for supporting the heddle bars intermediate their ends which while retaining all of the advantages heretofore obtained through the use of the arrangement shown and described in my aforesaid Letters Patent, yet at the same time will provide an arrangement whereby Wear between certain of the parts will be eliminated, or at least minimized.

The nature and characteristic features of the present invention will be more readily understood from the fol lowing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming part hereof, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a loom harness frame of a well known kind provided with devices embodying the main features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail view, enlarged, of a portion of the loom harness frame shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section thereof taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of certain of the parts shown in operative relationship;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a modified form of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail view of a portion of the structure shown in Fig. 2, but illustrating another modified form of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a top or plan view of a portion of the struc' ture shown in Fig. 6, with the securing bolt shown in section taken on the line 77 of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical section thereof taken on the line 88 of Fig. 6.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely, and that various modifications and changes may be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings, the harness frame proper may be of any preferred construction. As shown in the drawings the same may comprise top and bottom rails 10 connected at their ends by end struts 11. The heddle supporting rods 12 in this instance are made of strips of flat metal extending from end to end of the frame, and each of said rods may have its end portions extending through slots 13 in the end struts 11 of the frame in a usual and customary manner.

Each of the end portions of each of these heddle rods 12 may be provided with an aperture 14 whereby the ends of the heddle rods 12 may be engaged by suitably shaped spring members 15 secured by rivets 16 to the end struts 11 of the frame, and the arrangement may be of either of the forms shown and described in my previous Letters Patent No. 2,560,512, dated July 10, 1951. However, any other desired means may be used for securing the ends of the heddle rods in the frame.

In the preferred form of the device for supporting the heddle rods 12 intermediate their ends, said heddle rods are provided, at each of the places where a support is desired, with a plate member 20 which is secured to the heddle rod 12 by means of rivets 21. A spacing member 22 through which said rivets 21 extend is interposed between the heddle rod 12 and the plate member 20 to permit the heddles 40 to pass the supporting devices.

Each plate member 2% extends toward the rail 10 of the frame in which the heddle rods 12 are supported, and each of said plate members 29 is provided, near the edge thereof, with a longitudinal slot 23.

The plate member 20 is also provided with a spaced tongue portion 2 1 which extends from one of the end margins of the plate member Zti, being bent around and located so as to extend parallel to the portion of the plate member 20 which is disposed between the slot 23 and the outermost margin of the plate member 20.

The bolt member 26 has, at its innermost end, a flattened head portion 27 which extends between the plate member 20 and the tongue portion 24, and said flattened portion 27 of the bolt 26 has its end bent at right angles to provide a lip portion 28 which extends within the slot 23 of the plate member 20.

By this construction, the tongue portion 24, which serves to prevent the flattened head of the bolt 26 from separating from the plate member 26, also serves to maintain the lip portion 28 of the flattened head portion 27 of the bolt 26, from becoming disengaged from the slot 23 of the plate member 20 in the normal arrangement of the various parts while the same are in their operative positions.

The slot 23 has, near one end thereof, an enlargement, as at 54, to facilitate the initial insertion of the lip 28 into the slot 23, said enlarged portion 54 being located beyond the end of the tongue portion 24, and being of a width equal to or greater than the width of the flattened head portion 27 of the bolt member 26.

The shank portion of the bolt member 26 extends through the rail 10 of the frame, and is provided at its outer end with a threaded portion 29 which is engaged by a complementally threaded sleeve 30. The sleeve 30 is provided with a flange 31, and said flange 31 is confined between a washer 32, seated in a recess in the rail 10, and the plate member 34, each of which parts are secured to the rail 10 by means of screws 35.

The sleeve 30 which is mounted on the threaded end of the bolt 26 permits the adjustment of said bolt in the frame to maintain the heddle rods 12 in the frame at proper distances apart and in the proper parallel relationship.

The foregoing arrangement is such that when the screws 35 are tightened, after the adjustment is made, the bolt 26 will thereafter be held with the plate member 21 in its proper adjusted position in the frame. This arrangement of the plate member 20 and the bolt member 26 is substantially similar to that shown in my previous Letters Patent No. 2,386,690, hereinbefore referred to.

The principal novel feature of the present invention will now be described.

The flattened head portion 27 of the bolt has rotatably mounted therein the cylindrical shank 41 of a rivet, the end of which is shaped over as at 42 to retain the rivet in said flattened head portion 27 of the bolt member 26. The head 43 of the rivet is definitely eccentric with respect to the shank thereof, and is provided on its exposed face with a transversely extending slot 44. The hole in which the shank 41 of the rivet is journalled is so located, and the head 43 thereof is so dimensioned and positioned with respect to the shank portion 41 of the rivet that when said rivet is turned by an ordinary screw driver in engagement with the slot 44 the rim of the head 43 of the rivet will bear against and grip the top marginal edge of the plate member 2t) and cause the in-turned lip 28 to grip one of the edges of the slot 23 and thereby hold the plate member 219 rigidly with respect to the head 27 of the bolt member 26.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings, the eccentric head portion 43 of the rivet is cylindrical in shape, and the arrangement is such that when the rivet is turned by a screwdriver (not shown) the portion of the plate member 20 between the slot 23 and the outer marginal edge of the plate member will be firmly gripped between the lip portion 28 of the flattened head portion 27 of the bolt 26 and the eccentric head 43 of the rivet, thereby preventing movement between these parts and eliminating the wear which has heretofore occurred by reason of the constant hammering of the parts against each other when the harness frames are raised and lowered in the operation of the loom.

In the form of the device shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the eccentric head 43 of the rivet is made of frustoconical shape whereby the marginal edge portion of said rivet head t3 will bear against the edge portion of the plate member 29 which is gripped between said rivet head and the inturned head portion 23 of the flattened head 27 of the bolt member 26.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings, the head 43 of the rivet is not only made eccentric with respect to the shank portion 41 thereof, but said head is also provided with a lip portion 45 which is adapted, when the rivet is turned to the clamping position, to overlap the portion of the plate member 20 which is clamped between the rivet head 43 and the lip portion 28 of the flattened head 27 of the bolt member 26.

In the form of the invention shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 of the drawings, the tongue portion 24 of the plate member 20 may be omitted, as the overlapping lip portion 45 of the rivet head 43 will serve to maintain the lip portion 28 of the flattened head portion 27 of the bolt member against disengagement from the slot 23 of the plate member 20.

It has been found, in the use of the devices constructed as aforesaid, that wear between the parts where the slot of the plate member is engaged by the lip portion 28 of the flattened head 27 of the bolt member 26 will be eliminated as the hammering between those parts such as has heretofore occurred when the shedding took place will no longer happen.

I claim:

1. In loom harness including a heddle frame having top and bottom rails and heddle rods comprising thin flat metallic strips mounted in the frame, and means thereof comprising, at each location, a plate member secured to the rod in spaced relationship, a separate bolt member mounted in one of the rails of the frame, and said bolt member having a head portion engaging a portion of the plate member, the combination therewith of means for clamping said head portion of the bolt member to said portion of the plate member including a rivet rotatably mounted on the head portion of the bolt member, said rivet having an eccentric head portion acting when said rivet is rotated to effect the clamping.

2. In a loom harness including a heddle frame having top and bottom rails and heddle rods comprising thin flat metallic strips mounted in the frame, the means for supporting said heddle rods intermediate the ends thereof comprising, at each location, a plate member secured to the rod in spaced relationship, a separate bolt member mounted in one of the rails of the frame, the bolt member having a head portion engaging a portion of the plate member, and means for clamping said head portion of the bolt member to said portion of the plate member including a rivet rotatably mounted on the head portion of the bolt member, said rivet having an eccentric head portion acting to effect the clamping action, and the head portion of the rivet having an overlapping lip holding the head portion of the bolt member against the plate member when the rivet head is in the clamping position.

3. In loom harness include a heddle frame having top and bottom rails and heddle rods comprising thin flat metallic strips mounted in the frame, and means for supporting said heddle rods intermediate the ends thereof comprising, at each location, a plate member secured to the rod in spaced relationship, a separate bolt member mounted in one of the rails of the frame, said plate member having a slot therein, and the bolt member having a head portion engaging the plate member and provided with a part extending into the slot in said plate member, the combination therewith of a rivet pivotally mounted on the head portion of the bolt member, said rivet having an eccentric head portion acting, in conjunction with the part of the head portion of the bolt member which extends into the slot in the plate member, to clamp a portion of said plate member to the head of the bolt member thereby to prevent relative movement therebetween.

4. In loom harness including a heddle frame having top and bottom rails and heddle rods comprising thin flat metallic strips mounted in the frame, the means for supporting said heddle rods intermediate the ends thereof comprising, at each location, a plate member secured to the rod in spaced relationship, a separate bolt member mounted in one of the rails of the frame, the bolt member having a head portion engaging a portion of the plate member, and means for clamping said head portion of the bolt member to said portion of the plate member including a rivet rotatably mounted on the head portion of the bolt member, said rivet having an eccentric head portion acting to effect the clamping action, and said head portion of the rivet having its rim of frusto-conic-al shape.

5. In loom harness including a heddle frame having top and bottom rails and heddle rods comprising thin flat metallic strips mounted in the frame, the means for supporting said heddle rods intermediate the ends thereof comprising, in each location, a plate member secured to the rod in spaced relationship, a separate bolt member mounted in one of the rails of the frame, said plate member having a slot therein, the bolt member having a head portion engaging the plate member and provided with a part extending into the slot therein, and a rivet pivotally mounted on the head portion of the bolt member, said rivet having an eccentric head portion acting, in conjunction with the pant of the head port-ion of the bolt member which extends into the slot in the plate member, to clamp said plate member to the head of the bolt member, and

the head portion of the rivet having its rim of fructoconical shape.

6. In loom harness including a heddle frame having top and bottom rails and heddle rods comprising thin flat metallic strips mounted in the frame, the means for supporting said heddle rods intermediate the ends thereof comprising, at each location, a plate member secured to the rod in spaced relationship, a separate bolt member mounted in one of the rails of the frame, said plate member having a slot therein, the bolt member having a head portion engaging the plate member and provided with a part extending into the slot in said plate member, and a rivet rotatably mounted on the head portion of the bolt member, said rivet having an eccentric head portion acting,

in conjunction with the part of the head portion of the 15 bolt member which extends into the slot in the plate member, to clamp said plate member to the head of the bolt member, and the head portion of the rivet having an overlapping lip holding the head portion of the bolt member against the plate member when the rivet head is in the clamping position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Kaufimann May 17, 193 8 2,21i1,271 Kaufmann Aug. 13, 1940 2,386,690 Kaufm-ann Oct. 9, 1945 2,619,991 Kaufmann Dec. 2, 1952 2,707,495 Suchke May 3, 1955 

